Three years after signing up for an €85bn (£72bn) rescue deal and painful austerity plan, Ireland will leave the programme behind on Sunday night, becoming the first eurozone country to exit a bailout. But there are still three countries in bailout programmes – and Spain's banks are being propped up until next year.

Greece

Greece has already had two international bailouts, but it remains deep in recession, and more recently has slumped into deflation. In 2014, it will face what the International Monetary Fund calls a "funding gap" of about €4bn, which will force it to re-enter negotiations with its international donors.

Its longer-term debt sustainability is also in doubt, and with unemployment running at 27%, there remains a serious risk of a renewed political crisis.

Portugal

The economic outlook for Portugal has slowly begun to improve, with the recession coming to an end in the second quarter of this year.

But its debt levels remain dangerously high, at 127% of GDP, and what the IMF calls "reform fatigue" among a weary public whose living standards have collapsed could yet lead to social and political upheaval. Many analysts believe another bailout is inevitable.

Cyprus

Nicosia still hasn't fully lifted the capital controls that were imposed at the time of its fumbled bailout in March to prevent foreign money flooding out of the country as it emerged that savers would pay part of the price for rescuing the island state's banks.

GDP is expected to continue contracting throughout 2014, and with its property sector, and its reputation as a haven for overseas investors, both devastated as a result of the crisis, there are fears about how its economic model can be rebuilt. Public debt as a proportion of GDP is expected to continue rising for at least the next two years.

Spain

Spain never received a full-blown government bailout, but it did draw on €41bn of EU funds to rescue its banking sector. After emerging from recession in the second quarter of the year, Madrid announced last month that it would end the bank rescue programme in January – and like Ireland, would not ask for any precautionary credit line.

But with unemployment running at more than 26%, and many companies and households still saddled with debts from the pre-2008 boom, the IMF has warned that Spain faces "a long and difficult adjustment".